Monday, June 24, 2013

You know I always feel a little uneasy when I use a cut of
meat that you may not be able to easily find, but in this case I’m posting
guilt free, since this will work beautifully on whichever animal’s ribs you
happen to use. I’ve never actually had this on anything other than lamb, but
I’m going out on a limb. There’s just no way this isn’t going to be great on a
rack of baby back ribs.

The root beer and sesame combination really works
beautifully here, which is no surprise since we used that same one-two punch in
a braised lamb shoulder recipe a few years ago. I’d just returned from foodie
nirvana known as the Aspen Food & Wine Classic, and was anxious to share a
recipe adapted from one I learned from chef Richard Blais.

He originally used lamb ribs, and as great as my shoulder
chops were, I remember promising myself that I’d try it on ribs someday. It
took a while, but it was worth the wait. The subtle gaminess of the fatty rib
meat is a perfect foil for the sweet and spicy glaze, which seems even richer
scented by the toasted sesame.

By the way, these are lamb ribs from the breastplate of the
animal, NOT a rack of lamb from the loin, which also has a sort of similar row
of bones attached to the meat. Rack of lamb is crazy expensive, and if you want
to waste a lot of money, cooking it for 3 hours would be a great way to do it!

You’ll notice I didn’t slash the membrane on the back of the
ribs this time. I’ve decided on small ribs, like these and baby backs, that it
really doesn’t make much of a difference. Also, I forgot and didn’t realize
until I was doing the voiceover! Anyway, I hope you find some lamb ribs (call a
butcher and they will hook you up), or wimp out and use some pork ribs, but
either way, I hope you give these a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 4 portions:

2 racks of lamb ribs (aka bone-in lamb breast)

salt and pepper to taste

For the marinade:

2 tbsp toasted sesame oil

1 to 2 tbsp Sriracha chili sauce, or other chili paste/sauce

2 tsp salt

1 (12-oz) bottle root beer

For the glaze:

reserved marinade, boiled down by about half

3 crushed garlic cloves

1/3 cup chopped green onions

1/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar

1 tbsp sambal or fresh minced hot red chilies

*Roast lamb wrapped in foil at 250 F. for 2 1/2 hours, or
until almost tender, then uncover and glaze with sauce every 5-6 minutes at 400
F., until tender and gorgeous.

Hi Chef John,Great recipe!Where do you buy your ribs?I live near a Bi-Rite on Divisadero and a rack of lamb ribs is somewhere around 20 or 30 dollars! The Safeways I go to don't seem to ever carry it.Thanks!

Dear Chef John,I just discovered your Blog and your Videos and they just make me happy! They are informative and entertaining. It is a great feeling to smile while learning something. Thanks for all that!Regards from Germany,David

Trying this tonight with some spare ribs. My mom isn't a fan of overly hot food so I added a bit more root beer to give it some additional sweetness. Ribs are chilling in the fride now. Gonna cook em up tomorrow paired with some herb roasted garlic mashed potatoes!

Greetings Chef John!I love your youtube channel and I'm going to make this recipe, but here in my town I can't find root beer, the options I have are: Suga cane juice; Sugar syrup (perhaps dissolved in soda water); India Pale Ale Beer (alcoholic dark beer with malt and sugar cane);Some of these would be a good substitute or you would have another option?Thank you!